“Is your glass half-empty or half-full?” We’ve all heard the saying, and we all know that half-empty is the pessimistic view, while the half-full perspective is that of an optimist. The thing about cancer is that traditional rules don’t apply.

I’ve given hand massages to world travelers, war veterans, wedding planners, teachers, truckers, and Spanish-speakers. They all have one thing in common: they are receiving chemotherapy at the Mayo Clinic. Cancer has turned their lives, and their cups, upside down. These two patients are people that I will never forget.

Social media can be a scary, intimidating thing. The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media offers hands-on, rigorous training sessions to those who would like to apply social media to their work and make it a little less scary. Anyone can attend, including Mayo Clinic employees and volunteers, but also external professionals.

I attended the Social Media Residency as part of my Public Affairs internship at Mayo Clinic. In this role, I am involved in a variety of areas, but mostly internal communications. I create communication pieces about topics including employee achievements, patient stories, research, and keeping employees informed and aware of things happening at Mayo Clinic. In several of these roles, internal social media is considered, allowing me to create communication plans centered around these tools. I chose to attend the residency not only to hone my skills for my current job, but to make myself a more marketable candidate for future employment; social media matters, and more and more employers are looking for professionals well-versed in it.

I participated in the Social Media Residency at the Rochester campus on June 25 and 26. The two-day residency guided us through the use of many social media tools including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Yammer, Pinterest, WordPress and YouTube. A social media expert presented each tool in depth, and we were then asked to discuss how we could apply each tool to our work areas. Read the rest of this entry »

At 23, Sean Bretz was the picture of health. As a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville, you’d expect nothing less. But then last June 5, the machinery technician woke up with what he described as “an excruciating headache.” Attributing it to a late night out with friends, Bretz didn’t think much of it and headed to the kitchen, hoping food might help. Instead he collapsed.

Friends thought he’d had a seizure. They called 911 and Bretz was transported to Mayo Clinic where doctors determined a giant aneurysm had burst in his brain, causing a massive stroke. Prognosis was grim.

“I was in shock to say the least,” recalls his mom Noel, when hearing her young son had a stroke. “The staff were excellent though and very informative despite the fact that there was an unknown outcome.”